Proposal Development Grants: Innovation / Incubation Stage

Due to the weather and UM’s closing, the deadline has been extended to Wednesday, February 6, 2019 (two additional days).

Applications for Proposal Development Funding are due in early February each year (February 4 in 2019). Project applicant PI’s are notified of funding decisions by the end of February.

Proposal Development grants provide significant funding during May and June of each year for awarded teams to develop the research question(s) to be answered collaboratively and to put together a cohesive Project Grant proposal. The Collaboratory anticipates funding up to four proposals per funding cycle. Click on the year below to view samples of funded proposals. Please note the budget links have been deactivated or fields have been altered on the sample applications for confidentiality purposes.

Funded teams will be required to submit a written report on their spring term work by July 15 of the funded year. If such is organized, team members will be required to attend one or two workshops related to collaboration during May/June as well as meetings that may be called by Collaboratory administration.

The 2019 Proposal Development Grant application period is currently open with an application submission deadline of February 4, 2019. The criteria for applications and submission requirements are listed below. All forms and criteria outlined below are final for the 2019 funding cycle.

Each application package must consist of the Application Cover Sheet, Narrative Application (responses to questions 2-4 in a single PDF file created by the applying team), Budget Worksheet (opens in Excel), current CV’s for each faculty member on the team, the Signature Form indicating support by each faculty member’s Chair/ Director/ Associate Dean/Dean as applicable. The information below is required to complete the application, word limits are indicated in parenthesis.

Project Description

Identify the research team

PI, title, affiliations, unique name

Faculty team members, title, affiliations, unique name

Anticipated graduate team members, title, affiliations, unique name

Anticipated undergraduate team members (if applicable)

Describe your research project, including the questions that motivate the research, your approach and the anticipated outcomes. (1000 words)

Describe your collaborative process. What will you work out or hope to accomplish during the Spring Term proposal development phase of your project? If you have previous experience with collaborative scholarship or if you have a model for collaborative work in mind, please explain. What is the anticipated role of graduate student collaborators, and what is your mentoring plan for graduate students (and undergraduates, if relevant)? (1200 words)

What contribution(s) will the project make to the humanities field(s) in which it intervenes, and to the humanities more broadly? How do you anticipate results will be communicated and to what audiences? (600 words)

The budget is completed through a self-calculating worksheet. We anticipate budget submissions of $45-$85,000. Budget considerations include:

PI Compensation of a summer ninth capped at $12,000.

Up to a summer ninth, capped at $8,000, for each of the 2-4 faculty collaborators; it is suggested the stipend be adjusted based on contributions or role of each collaborator. More collaborators may be compensated, but no more than $32,000 in total stipend compensation is allowed for the faculty team members
**Note: Due to the nature of their appointment, staff, librarians, and research scientists may or may not be eligible for additional compensation depending on the nature of their responsibilities for the project. Approval of additional compensation is at the discretion of library administration, one’s supervisor and/or human resources based on the roles and responsibilities indicated in the proposal, budgets will be adjusted/reduced based on the final decision of pertinent personnel.

Research expenses (team travel, supplies, materials, some hosting for meetings, etc.; no equipment can be purchased with proposal development funds) (usually $5,000-$12,000)

Budget items may not include equipment or staff/admin support.

Further Documentation

CV from each faculty member (either short- or long-form is acceptable).

Signature Form – All faculty collaborator team members are required to obtain signature support from their appointing unit(s) Chair/Director. If the team includes an LSA Chair/Director the appropriate Associate Dean will need to sign off on the proposal for that particular faculty member. Other schools and colleges may or may not have Chair/Director appointments, in these cases either the Associate Dean or Dean’s signature of support is required (depending on the specific school’s procedures for applications of this nature).

Selection Criteria
Proposals will be selected based on the criteria listed below (not in priority order). The proposals will be reviewed by the Collaboratory Steering Committee members as well as two external reviewers based on a rating system utilizing the indicated criteria.

Impact in the identified research field(s) and in the humanities more broadly, including degree of innovation

Justification for collaborative work: process and products

Diversity of research teams and how UM/LSA’s DEI goals contribute to the research/scholarship

Quality of collaboration

Quality of mentoring

Feasibility of plan for project development phase

Please bear in mind the review is conducted by a broad, interdisciplinary committee. Please ensure your language is clear to those that may not be familiar with the field.